


The Problems Arising

by BittyDragon



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, GT, Giant/Tiny, Other, Schlatt arc, Sorry Not Sorry, Tubbo was in the wrong place at the wrong time, everyone else is human, giant Quackity, giant Schlatt, giant Tommy, giant Wilbur, giant technoblade, gonna hurt the boy, mcyt gt, schlatt is an asshole, tiny tubbo, will add tags if needed with further writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28419576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BittyDragon/pseuds/BittyDragon
Summary: We all know the Schlatt Arc of the DreamSMP. But what if Tubbo was a borrower instead of a human? Things are different, that's for sure.Based off of a request I received on Tumblr to write the Schlatt Arc but with borrower Tubbo. The request was sent before the exile stuff, which means a sequel is most likely happening to this as well seeing as the planning has been going very well.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Jschlatt, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot
Comments: 4
Kudos: 144





	1. The Election

**Author's Note:**

> I am very excited to share this story with you all! A lot of planning and work has gone into this story line (many thanks to the friend who helped me plan this, it's actually the same person who sent in the original request!) and the first chapter is finally written. My current aim is three chapters for this fic, but with everything I want to happen, I may have a few more chapters than I originally intended. Anywho, I hope you all enjoy this fic!

“Wilbur, relax! We’ve got this in the bag! There’s no way we could lose this thing, not after all the work we have put into this.”

“But Tommy! SWAG2020 has begun gaining a following and Schlatt’s sudden entrance to the election could send this all for a loop. Can we really still win?”

Tubbo watched as his best friend and his brother argued over what the outcome for this election would be. 

Wilbur had only become increasingly anxious over the results whilst Tommy was completely confident in their abilities to win the election. 

Tubbo wished he could help, but it was rather difficult when he was only a few inches tall. All he could do was sit there and give whatever words of encouragement he could think of to help calm the two humans’ nerves. 

But in this moment, Tubbo couldn’t even think of what he could say. Wilbur was rightfully worried, Quackity had begun to gain a following and Schlatt’s sudden entry to the election threw everyone off. 

Though, Tommy’s optimism had its own truth behind it. The two brothers had put a lot of work into their election campaign, and that isn’t even considering the amount of work they put into building the country as a whole. 

With all this in mind, Tubbo still had high hopes that Wilbur and Tommy would still win.

“Guys, at this point it’s useless to argue about the outcome, the votes are all in already. Nothing is going to change the outcome now.” 

Both humans went silent and turned to Tubbo, who barely flinched at the sudden attention. He was used to it at this point. He was just happy that they actually listened to him instead of ignoring him because he was different. 

“Though, I do want to ask a favor of you Wilbur.”

Wilbur sent him a questioning gaze. “And what would that be, Tubbo?” Tubbo took a deep breath. He just hoped that they would be alright with this.

“Could I come and watch this time? I could just hide in your pocket!” He took a deep breath as he noticed Tommy was about to say something and continued. 

“I just feel as if I don’t get to see what happens with you guys. Plus, I want to be there to celebrate with you two afterwards!” He sent them a wide smile, which thankfully seemed to calm both of their nerves.

“Of course, Tubbo. I’d be happy to-”

“Wait! Why don’t you want me to carry you? Why the hell did you ask Wilbur and not me, your best friend if I may add.”

“Tommy, I wouldn’t trust you to actually keep me hidden either if I were Tubbo, dumbass.”

Tubbo giggled as Tommy began sputtering out various curses and insults. Wilbur only looked on in amusement. Tubbo enjoyed these little moments with them. 

They were like a family, something Tubbo hadn’t really had before meeting Tommy.

All too soon, their fun was stopped by the distant ringing of a bell. All three of them knew what this bell meant; the time to announce the results of the election. 

They all stood there in silence for a brief moment to let it sink in. Eventually, Wilbur turned towards Tubbo and extended his hand out to him with a smile.

“Shall we?” Tubbo nodded and quickly climbed onto Wilbur’s hand. 

His grip tightened ever so slightly to keep himself balanced as the hand moved upwards. It seemed to take no time at all before he reached the pocket of Wilbur’s uniform and slid into it. 

He began situating himself inside of the pocket as he felt Wilbur lean down to pick up the envelope that contained the final results. 

When everyone was ready, they left towards the podium with a heavy silence hanging between them.

The walk was uneventful and quiet, all three too caught up in their own thoughts. As they approached the podium, they could see many of the citizens of L’Manburg had already begun to gather below. With a heavy sigh, Wilbur walked up towards the podium with Tommy trailing behind him.

As soon as they reached the podium, Tubbo ducked back into the pocket. He’d rather not be seen by others. He’d be content with only listening to the results, they really weren’t something he needed to see to know the outcome.

Tubbo heard faint conversation around him as Wilbur prepared to announce the results that were located in the envelope from earlier. A moment later, Wilbur tapped the microphone and cleared his throat; everyone went silent.

“Hello everyone, and welcome to the L’Manburg election results! In my hand are the final votes for the election, the deciding factor on L’Manburg’s next president.” Tubbo felt Wilbur take a deep breath as he lifted the envelope for everyone in the audience to see.

“This envelope contains the popular votes for the four running parties: POG2020 consisting of Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit, SWAG2020 consisting of Quackity and George, Coconut2020 consisting of Fundy and Nihachu, and Schlatt2020 consisting of Schlatt. With that said, I will now read out the results of the election.”

Silence was all that met Wilbur’s words. Tubbo assumed everyone was anticipating the results with baited breath because even he felt his own doubts creeping in. 

However he shook it off as he heard Wilbur tear the envelope open and pull out the sheet of paper.

A few seconds later, Wilbur suddenly tensed up. It felt so slight that he was sure that no one watching would notice, but Tubbo could feel it from inside the pocket. 

He was confused, POG2020 was the clear favorite, at least, he thought they were the clear favorite. But the way Wilbur tensed up made his doubts increase tenfold.

“In fourth place with 9% of the vote, we have Coconut2020!”

Cheering suddenly erupted from beside Wilbur, and Tubbo made a quick guess that it was Fundy cheering. At least he still seemed happy despite losing the election.

“In third place with 16% of the vote, we have Schlatt2020!”

An astonished silence followed the announcement. Tubbo shifted in surprise as well. Schlatt had been such a late entry to the election as a whole, and yet, he didn’t receive the lowest amount of votes. He had actually managed to gain a decent following for only being in L’Manburg for a few days, prior to the election.

“That leaves us with the last two parties: POG2020,” he paused for effect before continuing on, “and SWAG2020.” Silence hung in the air, only broken by a small cheer behind Wilbur that went ignored by everyone. 

“In second place with 30% of the vote,” Wilbur paused, raising the suspense.Tubbo held his breath, hoping that POG2020 came out as the elected party. 

“SWAG2020!”

Cheer erupted from all around, the loudest being Tommy who was standing right beside Wilbur. Even Tubbo couldn’t help but let out a relieved laugh, they had won the election.

“That leaves POG2020 with 45% of the popular vote.” Tommy’s cheering increased tenfold at the new statement. Tubbo knew that if he wasn’t in Wilbur’s pocket at that exact moment, Tommy would be all over his brother in excitement. 

Tubbo was about to tap Wilbur to show him how excited he was when he began to speak again.

“Tommy, Tommy please settle down. I need to announce one other thing.” Tommy lessened his cheering but Tubbo knew he was probably still smiling like an idiot. They had won, they did it!

“Two days ago, a deal was made between candidate Quackity and candidate Schlatt. They both agreed to create a coalition government based off of both of their respective followings. Therefore, the new party of Schlatt2020 has 46% of the popular vote. Meaning that Schlatt2020 has won the election by 1% of the vote.”

Tubbo could no longer pay attention to everything going on around him, all of the words around him blending into white noise. 

They had actually lost the election. 

Wilbur and Tommy didn’t win when it should have been an easy victory for them. The only reason they lost was because of the new coalition government pooling their votes together.

So what was going to happen now? This Schlatt person was the new president of L’Manburg? 

He had only been in these lands for around a week prior and the people had already decided that they preferred him over Wilbur. Wilbur hadn’t done anything wrong, he had done nothing to cause a dislike towards him. 

And L’Manburg chose a new member over one of the original founders.

Tubbo eventually let himself tune back into the happenings around him and risked a glance over the edge of the pocket as Schlatt began his inauguration speech. 

He hadn’t noticed when they moved down from the platform to stand with the rest of L’Manburg’s citizens. He really was lost in his thoughts it seemed.

He glanced over to Tommy who sent a small worried look back. Tommy had done so much for this country and he was now nothing more than another citizen. 

Tubbo hoped that Schlatt would at least honor Tommy’s contributions to the country at the very least. 

“My first decree, as the president of L’Manburg, the Emperor of this great country!” Tubbo turned his gaze to the podium where the ram hybrid began giving his first decree. 

That first line alone made a small chill run down Tubbo’s spine. 

“Is to revoke the citizenship of Wilbur Soot,” Schlatt paused for a minute and his smile grew bigger. “And TommyInnit!”

Time seemed to stop for Tubbo as he registered the new president’s words among the now growing cheers and screams. But that meant they couldn’t be on L’Manburg lands. 

They weren’t allowed to stay so what are they going to-

“Get ‘em outta here!”

Suddenly, Tubbo felt Wilbur jerk as he turned tail to run. He faintly heard him yelling at Tommy to run, over the roaring blood in his ears. 

He ducked into the pocket as soon as Wilbur lurched forward, like he’d been struck by an arrow. 

Tubbo ducked as low as he could in the pocket to avoid falling out in the commotion, especially when Wilbur whipped around to check who was behind him. 

He then heard Wilbur chug a potion and noticed as the effects began taking place, making Wilbur’s body seemingly disappear into thin air.

Before he was completely out of sight though, another arrow hit Wilbur and next thing Tubbo knew he was free falling toward the ground. 

What just happened? 

He attempted to prop himself up on his arms in the tall grass, only to see items littered around him. 

The sound of people running fell on deaf ears as Tubbo attempted to regain his bearings. It had all gone so fast, he wasn’t exactly sure what had just happened.

“Well this is unexpected. The fuck are you supposed to be?” 

Tubbo stared wide-eyed up at the figure that was now towering over him. 

It was the ram hybrid, the one who beat Wilbur in the election. At Tubbo’s silence, Schlatt’s eyes narrowed and he let out a small noise of annoyance. 

Before he could register what was happening, a large hand reached down and snatched him up in a tight fist.

Tubbo began trying to squirm out of the suffocating grip to no avail as he was lifted off of the ground. The fist only squeezed harder, pushing Tubbo’s breath out of him. 

He stopped struggling in hopes that he would be allowed to breathe easier and possibly get a chance to escape. 

One glance at his captor however, dashed all hope that Tubbo had. He watched in horror as the ram’s expression changed from confusion to a sinister looking grin.

“You belonged to Wilbur, didn’t you?” Schlatt smirked and began twisting Tubbo around in his grip. “If that’s the case, you might be useful.”

Tubbo tried to steady himself in the man’s hands but was constantly knocked over by Schlatt twisting and turning him. 

With the implications Schlatt made and the constant twisting; Tubbo felt sick to his stomach.

The movement finally stopped, only for Tubbo to be trapped in a tight fist once more as Schlatt bent down to pick up the potions that Wilbur had dropped. 

He seemed uninterested in most of the things Wilbur dropped when he died, he only seemed to be interested in the potions and Tubbo.

That did not bode well for Tubbo at all.

A few seconds later, Schlatt stored the potions on his person and began walking towards the White House with Tubbo in hand. 

Schlatt didn’t even look at him as he began shifting Tubbo around again, further disorienting the tiny boy. A quick glance at the ram however, heavily implied that he was doing this on purpose.

It felt like forever before they reached the White House, at least for Tubbo it did. He felt dizzy and sick by the time they stopped walking, anymore and it may have caused him to throw up. 

He was so out of it that he didn’t even notice Schlatt creating a small glass box on the table until he was dropped into it.

Tubbo landed on his butt inside the enclosure with a grunt of pain before looking up in fear. Schlatt smiled and propped his head up on his hand atop the table.

“There you go, pet. Just like home, right? Of course it is!” He leaned in, not giving Tubbo a chance to respond. “‘Cause little fucking things like you are nothing more than pets.”

Tubbo scooted backwards, hoping to put as much distance between himself and Schlatt despite the glass enclosure. He shrunk back further as Schlatt laughed at his actions.

Before either of them could do anything else, someone else entered the White House with a loud, excited cheer.

“Eyyyy, Schlatt! Mr. President! How does it feel to have all this power in your new nation?” Tubbo glanced over to see the newcomer. 

He quickly deduced that this was Quackity, Schlatt’s vice president and the reason Schlatt became president. 

Tubbo knew that Schlatt wouldn’t have won if Quackity hadn’t pooled his votes with Schlatt, meaning he already had a bitter feeling towards him.

“So what’s our first plan of action- Schlatt? What the fuck is that?”

Tubbo was now extremely aware of the new pair of eyes on him, the attention was too much. Unfortunately, in his situation there was nothing he could do to escape the attention. 

Tommy and Wilbur at least respected his privacy whenever he felt overwhelmed, these two however, most definitely did not.

“Dunno, but it was sitting amongst Soot’s stuff after he was killed. Brought it back here as soon as I realized that this weird creature could be used against him if he tries any funny business.” Schlatt never took his eyes off Tubbo as he spoke, unnerving the tiny boy even more.

Tubbo switched his gaze towards Quackity and noticed a small unease forming in his expression. It was almost as if the idea of Schlatt using a small person as nothing more than a tool unnerved him. 

It made Tubbo feel a bit of hope for his situation.

“As weird as this is, I’ll be fine with this ‘cause you’re right, it does give us the upper hand against Wilbur and Tommy!”

And with that, any hope Tubbo had left was shattered. The new vice president wasn’t going to do anything to stop Schlatt, he was too loyal to the president.

“That’s what I thought! This is why you’re my vice president! Come now, we have much to figure out with my new country!”

“Yessir!”

With that, they left the room, leaving Tubbo alone in his glass enclosure. He curled up into himself as tears threatened to fall. 

He knew he wasn’t going to be able to escape this situation easily, if he could even escape at all. All he wanted was to end this new nightmare.

He just wanted to be back with Tommy.


	2. The Spy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tubbo is sure having a good time with Schlatt right now, isn't he? :)

Being with Schlatt was a nightmare. Everything about Tubbo’s new life with the president was terrible. He was even forced to change out of the clothes that Tommy had sewn for him, back when they had first met. 

He was now forced to wear a small hand made suit, much like the one Schlatt wore, only poorly sewn. 

He missed his old outfit. Tommy had made it for him because when he had first seen the borrower, Tubbo was wearing a small piece of cloth over his shoulders in a bad attempt at a poncho. 

He never really did get the hang of making clothes for himself, but the poncho worked well enough. Though he never realized how comfortable a proper set of clothes would be until Tommy made him some.

And now Tubbo was forced to wear the shoddily made suit that was too big in some places and tight on others. It even made him wish for his old poncho. But Schlatt insisted and practically forced him to wear the ensemble, despite him being a secret from the rest of the cabinet, minus Quackity.

Quackity was tolerable. He was pretty funny and came by frequently to talk with Tubbo. But he never made any attempt to free the borrower and in the presence of Schlatt, any kindness he held disappeared. 

Tubbo wasn’t too sure how he felt about him.

Schlatt on the other hand was horrible, through and through. At the beginning of Tubbo’s capture, he’d made many attempts to escape. 

He had nearly made it to the walls at one point. But every time his luck seemed to fade out and he was met with a boot slammed down in front of him or a hand roughly pinning him down.

Schlatt wasn’t at all merciful towards Tubbo either. If he did anything the man didn’t like, he received some sort of punishment. He felt like a dog being trained to be a good pet for its owner. 

Though, that analogy wasn’t too far off from how he was treated.

About a month into Tubbo’s capture, he had stopped trying to escape knowing it would be a fruitless endeavor. Schlatt had quickly picked up on that piece of information and was pleased enough to know that he could now use this tiny boy to his advantage without him attempting to run away again.

So now Tubbo was on one of his little spy trips for Schlatt. Schlatt realized fairly quickly that he was small and knew how to get into hidden spaces and stay undetected. 

So every so often, Schlatt would send Tubbo out just before the sun rose to go out into Manburg and gather any inside intelligence he could and report back to Schlatt at the end of the day.

Schlatt was kind enough to drop him off at different locations in the mornings, but after that, he was left to traverse the area on his own, a difficult task for a borrower. 

Tubbo was forced to make do with the situation, he didn’t want to try his luck at gaining more favors from Schlatt.

However, Tubbo was not completely under Schlatt’s thumb. While he did have to go out and retrieve information for the man, he always found a way to leave out the details that would mark people as traitors. 

He had overheard a few people in Manburg state something about a place called ‘Pogtopia’ and how Tommy and Wilbur now resided there.

Because of his spying for Schlatt, he had managed to gather the fact that Wilbur and Tommy were working together in order to find a way to overthrow Schlatt. 

With that in mind, Tubbo decided he would only need to bide his time until Schlatt was overthrown and Wilbur took back his rightful place as president of this country.

But now, it was time to report back to Schlatt. Today was a boring day, nobody really said anything that they all didn’t know. 

There was the one lady who owned the bakery that Tubbo had overheard complaining about her high taxes and thinking about becoming a spy for Pogtopia, but Schlatt didn’t need to know that.

Looking up at the white house, he took a deep breath and walked towards the building. He had only made it a few steps before the door was practically slammed open and in the doorway stood Schlatt, who looked a bit too pissed off for Tubbo’s liking. 

Schlatt spotted Tubbo almost instantly and marched over towards the borrower, who took an instinctual step back at the sudden movement. Before he could say anything else, Schlatt bent down and picked him up in a tight fist before marching right back towards the door.

“You better have some fucking good news for me, little pest. I don’t need another shit piece of news right now, so you better have something good.”

Tubbo stared wide-eyed up at the president. What bad news had he received that got Schlatt all worked up like this? 

It didn’t bode well for Tubbo though, Schlatt was not against taking his anger out on the tiny boy. He needed to make sure he calmed the man down before anything especially bad could happen.

Far too quickly, they arrived at Schlatt’s desk and Tubbo was unceremoniously dropped onto the wood. He watched as Schlatt sat down and levelled him with a hard stare.

“Well? What’ve you got for me, kid?”

Tubbo cleared his throat, he had to word everything carefully as not to further anger Schlatt, even if he had barely any information to give the man.

“I did not find much out that we didn’t already know, sir. The most interesting thing I saw was that a demon and a strange person made of diamonds were walking through the country today. I have not seen them here before, so I was unsure as to whether or not this was vital information for you or not. Other than that, it was a very normal day and nothing incriminating was found.”

Schlatt almost seemed to measure him up for a minute. Tubbo nervously stared back at him, nervous at what his reaction could be. Schlatt eventually sighed and leaned back into his chair.

“Bad and Skeppy. They shouldn’t be a threat, but they aren’t exactly a friendly party with us either. The Badlands, their faction, is a very neutral faction. I don’t trust them but no issues have arisen with them, so we shall continue with them peacefully.” He paused for a second before addressing Tubbo directly. 

“You did well enough, I suppose. I can’t really blame you when nobody says anything around you sometimes.”

Tubbo did his best not to allow the relief to cross his face. If Schlatt knew of just how much Tubbo was panicking then he would use that to his advantage to gain more power over him. He didn’t need anything else making his life harder.

“I am glad you are happy with the information I have found today. I apologize for not finding anything else for you.”

Schlatt actually smiled at him. Tubbo didn’t know what to think, the smile seemed genuine but the president was a master of deception so he couldn’t be too sure.

“Y’know, you’re a good kid. If you continue working this hard at your job, I may have to upgrade your enclosure again.” 

Tubbo wasn’t sure what to say in response to that. It seemed more of a backhanded compliment. Schlatt may have applauded him for his work and how well he did it, but he also made sure to remind him that he was still nothing more than a pet. 

An obedient little pet who deserved a treat when they did a good job.

“I have an idea, kid.” Tubbo looked up to the ram. He felt a small bout of nerves build up inside of him, but he shoved the bad feeling away. 

He nodded towards Schlatt to indicate he was listening, too scared that his voice would relay the slight fear he had. However, the president didn’t seem to notice as he continued on.

“Manburg is thriving right now, there’ve been very few amounts of potential betrayal and Wilbur and Tommy can do absolutely nothing against me with nobody else on their side.” Tubbo flinched at that, but if Schlatt noticed he said nothing as he continued talking. 

“So I’ve decided that I should hold a festival, one to acknowledge the success of this country under my rule. There will be games and activities for everyone and I will give a speech to the people as well. This should be the perfect way to show everyone how great the country has become, don’t you agree?” 

“Of course, Schlatt! I think that’s a perfect idea! A festival would be a good way to celebrate how far your country has come.” Tubbo’s voice shook a little as he spoke. 

He hoped the president didn’t notice how he was struggling to lie in order to appease the man. He didn’t want to call the country Schlatt’s, but if he didn’t he would be labelled a traitor on the spot.

“Exactly! You get it, kid. I knew you were a good asset for my cabinet.” He reached a finger out to ruffle Tubbo’s hair. The borrower resisted the urge to flinch away and only faked a smile up at Schlatt.

“I’m glad you think so, sir!” Schlatt sent another small smile towards the boy, finger still on his head. Tubbo let out a mental sigh of relief when he seemed to buy his lie. He felt like he was getting a whole lot better at this whole faking thing.

Schlatt began to shift his hand to grab Tubbo, the finger slipping out of his hair. The borrower found himself restricted in Schlatt’s fist once more, but in a noticeably looser grip than earlier. 

He didn’t appreciate being grabbed like this, but there was nothing he could do against Schlatt. If he attempted any form of rebellion then he would lose all the privileges he had managed to gain, and he liked the small amount of freedom he currently had.

It didn’t take long for Schlatt to reach Tubbo’s enclosure. He pat his head once more before lowering him down into the small glass enclosure. 

Tubbo only stared up helplessly as the top was placed over the enclosure, trapping him inside once more. Schlatt sent one last glance towards the small boy before making his way to the kitchen.

Tubbo didn’t move, just sitting there allowing his thoughts to run wild. This festival did actually seem like a good idea, but something about the whole plan made him feel queasy... like there was a part he was missing. 

And why had Schlatt conferred in him about the idea? The whole thing just sent Tubbo for a loop and he couldn’t explain why something just felt off about the idea of the festival.

A minute later, Schlatt returned with a small container containing bread, some pieces of strawberry and a bottlecap of water. He moved the lid off of Tubbo’s enclosure, putting the food and water into the glass box before closing it and leaving once more, this time towards his office.

Tubbo instantly made his way towards the food, the sight of it reminding him of his hunger that had built up throughout the day. He was glad that Schlatt felt the need to feed him, even if he knew it was probably because the ram didn’t need his pet to be dying on him any time soon.

He picked up a small chunk of strawberry and began to nibble on it while staring blankly out at the room he was kept in. 

His mind wandered back towards the festival idea. Something inside of him screamed that something was wrong but he didn’t know what. 

He decided it was just nerves and he chose to brush off the rising anxiety. The feeling remained but Tubbo decided to just ignore it.

What could possibly go wrong anyways?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am finally able to write again! It still won't be too fast, but hopefully updates happen at a more reasonable pace now. Also, I realized that I had far undershot with thinking this was going to be three chapters. This chapter was supposed to be a part of the next chapter but I decided against it as the next chapter is probably going to be a big one. And then I decided to split another part into it's own chapter as well because there's a lot and I'm gonna try and keep the chapters organized by different situations.
> 
> On a different note, I'm sure nothing could go wrong. Absolutely nothing could go wrong :)


End file.
